Thursday, October 8, 2015

Harvey is doing okay on his Jenny Craig-like diet. He's moving well, he is off all bute, and we have been letting him have some grass with no ill effect. He has lost weight and it is now a barn initiative to see he does not lose more. Harv's caretakers are weight-taping and squinting at him, and working with me to slowing increase his feed.

The barn manager and our other boarder are of the opinion that he does not have Cushings or IR. He may have just gotten too fat from an overzealous mother hell-bent on spoiling him.

Maybe. Not sure about the Cushings, as I don't know if over-feeding can affect that lab test. But maybe, just maybe, the IR had more to do with the timing (after a big meal, blood vial sitting for four days over the holiday weekend).

We're proceeding cautiously, gradually increasing his feed, and I have another vet appointment scheduled in early Oct. More labwork, in a more controlled situation, may present a clearer picture.

1 comment:

You're right to question the blood sitting over the weekend. The ecirhorse.org site I keep harping about has very specific recs for both the IR testing and the Cushings testing and how to handle the blood for best and most accurate results. They really do have these two maladies down to a fine art based on a lot of horses and their owners sharing info to come up with best practices and gold standard for testing and treatment.